6 



tlian in tlie situations I have described." From tlie Bouin Islands Mr. Seebohm records 

 a specimen as obtained by Mr. Hoist on the 3rd of May on Peel Island. Two individuals 

 were seen for a single day on spring migration. During the ' Challenger ' Expedition 

 five Swallows were caught on the ship when she was about four days south of Yokohama, 

 on the 7th of April, 1875. 



Abbe David states that //. guttiiralis is the common Swallow of China and Mongolia, 

 arriving at Pekin in the beginning of April, and nesting in large numbers in the houses, 

 where they are protected by the Chinese. Prjewalski gives the following note : — " This 

 eastern representative of our Swallow is met with throughout Mongolia, and breeds there 

 on the huts and even inside the tents, especially in the latter. It very patiently 

 hatches its eggs in the nest, which is fastened to the ceiling. The Swallow, however, is 

 alw^ays patronized by the Mongols ; the Chinese also never destroy a Swallow's nest ; 

 consequently they get so tame that they breed inside the Chinese houses. In S.E. 

 Mongolia the first birds appear about the 23rd of April ; but no large migrating flocks 

 were noticed by us. We did not find them in Kan-su ; and everywhere in the Ussuri 

 country, near human habitations, we met with II. rustica, var. riifa, Gm. It arrives 

 about Lake Ilanka in the end of April, and leaves there in the early part of September ; 

 some few individuals, however, stop much later, and I once observed two as late as the 

 2nd of October in Hun-Chun." 



In China it breeds in all the coast-towns, as noted by Consul Swinhoe. At Amoy 

 he saw it arrive in the first week in March, and observes : — " It is a summer visitor 

 here and joretty numerous, building mud nests, lined with straw and a few feathers, over 

 the doors of Chinese hovels. The natives protect the Swallow, as they believe that good 

 luck attends it." 



In his paper on the birds of Hongkong, Macao, and Canton, the same writer 

 says : — ■" A fcAV arrived in Pebruary ; but in March they were to be found everywhere, 

 and soon commenced building-operations. It is the only and prevailing species." In 

 Formosa it is a summer visitor, according to Mr. Swinhoe, but is chiefiy confined in its 

 distribution to the south-west. It is by no means so common as S. daurica, with which 

 it never seems to keep company during the period of nidification. In its habits, its 

 nest, and colour of eggs, &c., this bird entirely agrees with the European R. rustica ; 

 yet in size it is always smaller, and in minor personal features difli'erent. Again, in his 

 account of the birds of Hainan, he writes : — " From the day of our arrival at Hainan, 

 onwards, the Swallow that summers in Canton and up the China coast was frequently 

 seen. Some of them would seem to pass the winter in the island. We saw them at all 

 points of the coast visited. Strangely enough, we met with no other species." 



In the Lower Yangtze basin, writes Mr. Styan, " these Swallows begin to arrive in 

 the middle of March, and are numerous by the end of the month ; they remain until the 

 first week in November. A great many nest in the shops and huts of the towms and 

 villages, the nests being placed within easy reach of the hand. The natives protect them, 

 and consider their presence of good omen." 



